Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of April 14, 2019? #15625
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      I've never had faro, is it similar to couscous?

      in reply to: Daily Quiz for April 16, 2019 #15621
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        As a long-time math geek, there's a way to figure out whether the round pan is the largest without a lot of multiplying.

        5 x 5 = 25 (hopefully everyone can do that much math in their head!)

        25 x 3 = 75, so the question is whether the fractional part of pi will make it higher than 80 or 81, the area of the other two pans.

        80 - 75 = 5.

        5/25 = .2 but pi = 3.14, so the answer is no.

        in reply to: Has anybody rendered their own lard? #15620
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          In larger cities, there are now businesses that collect the cooking fats from restaurants and reprocess them, though I don't think they're allowed to be used for cooking purposes.

          Lincoln recently enacted a ban on corrugated cardboard in the landfill, so when people started cleaning out their garages as the weather warmed up the city recycling centers were overwhelmed by the amount of corrugated cardboard that was dropped off.

          I've seen too many stories that say that much of what we recycle winds up in the landfills anyway, because there's no market for it.

          in reply to: Daily Quiz for April 16, 2019 #15612
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            I don't want to make them TOO easy for you! I keep a calculator in my baking gadgets drawer and use it frequently, as well as the calculator app on my iPhone.

            in reply to: Has anybody rendered their own lard? #15611
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              There was an article in the London Guardian a while back about workers removing a 10 ton fatberg from sewers in Chelsea. In addition to cooking fats, a major problem has been the so-called 'flushable' wipes, many of which, unlike paper products, are not bio-degradable.

              Another issue has been the tendency for people to use garbage disposals to grind up foods rather than throw them in the trash or compost them. I recently bought a composting pot for the kitchen which uses bio-degradable bags made of cornstarch, and a two-chamber rotatable compost bin for the garden, and I'm trying to compost fruits and vegetables instead of throw them in the trash or down the disposal. Meats and fats generally shouldn't go in a compost pile anyway, they mess up the composting action and increase the smell, and will attract mice and other vermin.

              in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of April 14, 2019? #15606
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                I find pure chicken fat a bit assertive, I think olive oil would be even more so, and I seldom cook with it, in part because a close friend and my brother-in-law are both allergic to olives, so I just don't like having it around. Last time I made matzoh balls I used a combination of vegetable oil and a little chicken fat.

                Back when I was visiting NYC on a regular basis, the ones at the Carnegie Deli (now closed) were good, but the ones at the Roxy (near Times Square) were better, and the best ones I had were in a little hole-in-the-wall place in Chelsea. I thought the ones at Katz's were only so-so, but their pastrami is first-rate.

                When we were first married there was a great deli a few blocks from our apartment (in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago), we usually just got bagels from them but their soups were excellent and their matzoh balls were larger than a baseball!

                in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of April 14, 2019? #15604
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  Len, do you make your matzoh balls the traditional way, with rendered chicken fat?

                  I haven't had a matzoh ball soup in a long time, yours looks good.

                  in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #15599
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    There are vegan substitutes for cheese, they're not too bad on pizza, actually. (I made some vegan pizzas when we had a guest who had a milk allergy.) I don't recall much about their nutritional content.

                    in reply to: Has anybody rendered their own lard? #15598
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      I tend to generate more fat during the winter when I'm making stocks more frequently, when I have a full can I just toss it in the garbage when I take it down to the street. I've got a nearly full can right now, I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Probably double bag it and put it in the trash.

                      in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of April 14, 2019? #15597
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        We had spaghetti with meat sauce tonight.

                        in reply to: Has anybody rendered their own lard? #15589
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          My mother saved her bacon fat in a jar by the stove as well. She would use it when cooking, especially to make wilted lettuce salads.

                          I pour fats in a #10 can, but I don't reuse them, I just don't want them clogging my drains. When the can is full, I throw it in the trash.

                          in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of April 14, 2019? #15585
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            Take-out chicken

                            in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of April 14, 2019? #15583
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I will also make several batches of Hot Cross Buns for Friday. (It's a family tradition to deliver them to friends and neighbors.)

                              in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of April 7, 2019? #15571
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                Len, what's your method for the basket weave? Looks like it comes out nicely.

                                in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of April 7, 2019? #15569
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  King Arthur Flour's recipes tend to be on the light side for the weight of a cup of flour, at 4 1/4 ounces for AP flour. There are many authors who use 4 1/2 ounces per cup, some who use 5 ounces per cup, and I've seen one that used 5 1/4!

                                  Even the USDA database uses 125 grams (4.41 ounces) for a cup of AP flour.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 5,746 through 5,760 (of 7,705 total)